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Thursday, September 12, 2013

MISQUOTING FRANCIS (AGAIN)

I usually start my day by
checking various news websites. I often say I just want to know “if anything
blew up overnight.” This morning my attention was drawn to several headlines
about Pope Francis and the Church under a picture of the pope:

"Pope: You don't have to believe in God to get to
heaven..."

"Catholic priests may be allowed to marry amid
Papal changes..."

I immediately thought, “here we
go again”, some statement by the pope has been taken out of context by a
reporter who likely couldn’t pass a first grade catechism class. I was not
disappointed.

There were two “big” stories about
the Church. The first alleged that Pope Francis was declaring that atheists
could go to heaven without believing in God and the second focused on comments
made by the incoming Vatican Secretary of State, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, on
the topic of celibacy. Let's take a closer look...

Atheists and Agnostics Just Need to Be Good People

The first
story was based on comments by Pope Francis from a letter he wrote to an
Italian newspaper in response to an articles & editorials written by an
agnostic raising questions about the faith and the nature of God in general.
This was certainly an unusual move for a pope to pen a letter to the editor,
but seems to be in keeping with Francis’ casual and open style. Of course the
story summarizing the pope’s letter for England’s The Telegraph pulled specific quotes out of Pope Francis’ letter
and sensationalized them. In fact the tag line for the article read: “The Pope
has struck a surprisingly conciliatory tone towards atheists and agnostics,
saying that God will "forgive" them as long as they behave morally
and live according to their consciences.”

Fortunately, I was able to find a
link
to the original letter on the website of the Italian newspaper (in
English). It’s actually a great letter. Francis uses his encyclical Lumen Fidei as the foundation of his
response while placing it within the broader context of the work of the Second
Vatican Council. He laments “a lack of communication between the Church…and the
modern culture of Enlightenment.” Quoting from the encyclical he affirms that “the
security of faith makes it possible to speak with everyone” and welcomed the
chance to engage the original writer’s questions about faith. He hopes that
they “will find a way to perhaps walk along a path together.” This is the pope
doing the work of the new evangelization for all to see. Modeling for us how to
engage someone who is unsure of the claims of the Church through relationship
and humility.

The particular segment that The Telegraph story picked up on was
within the context of answering a question about the Church’s attitude to those
who do not share faith in Jesus. The original writer wanted to know if the God
of Christians would forgive an agnostic or atheist. Pope Francis’ answer is
right in line with Vatican II’s teaching on this very same subject. He first
replies that “God’s mercy has no limits” but clarifies that one must “ask for
mercy…with a sincere heart”. He calls on the duty of every person to follow
their conscience in determining right and wrong. This is taken straight from Lumen Gentium #16:

“Those also can attain to
salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or
His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to
do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does
Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without
blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and
with His grace strive to live a good life. Whatever good or truth is found
amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel. She
knows that it is given by Him who enlightens all men so that they may finally
have life.”

Of course this requires humility
and honest seeking on behalf of the non-believer. Interestingly, The Telegraph’s story quotes from a
leader of the Italian Union of Atheists and Agnostics basically rejecting this
very offer of mercy, “Why should a non-believer seek legitimization from the
Pope?...What interests non-believers is certainly not 'forgiveness' from an
entity whose existence we do not trust."

Changing Celibacy Rules?

The second story jumped on
comments made by the new Vatican Secretary of State during an interview with a Venezuelan
newspaper. All Bishop Parolin said was that the celibacy requirement for
priests was a matter that could be reviewed or discussed because it is a
discipline not a doctrine of the Church. Once again, there’s really nothing to
see here. Celibacy is merely a discipline within the Latin Rite of the Catholic
Church (Eastern Rites such as Byzantine or Ukrainian allow for married
priests). Even within the Latin Rite there are married priests who are converts
from different Protestant denominations. Once again an uninformed media jumped to false
conclusions and implications.

While there are theological
reasons to support celibacy there are also very practical considerations to keep
in mind. Just consider the financial impact. The average diocesan priest makes
a minimal salary ($20k) and resides in shared living quarters in a rectory. A
married priest would obviously require greater financial support (salary,
housing, insurance, etc.). Most parishes can barely cover their existing financial
responsibilities. I’d like to know how many supporters of married priests are
also willing to substantially increase their giving? Without parish support a
married priest would have to be bi-vocational like many Protestant pastors.
This would mean less availability for parishioners and likely increase stress
within their marriages.

In fact, studies
on Protestant clergy in the US show some troubling
statistics when it comes to the health of marriages and families that make a pretty good argument for maintaining a celibate priesthood:

25% of pastors' wives see their husband's work
schedule as a source of conflict.

33% say that being in ministry is an outright
hazard to their family.

38% of pastors said they were divorced or
currently in a divorce process.

45% of pastors' wives say the greatest danger to
them and their family is physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual burnout.

52% of pastors say they and their spouses
believe that being in pastoral ministry is hazardous to their family's
well-being and health.

56% of pastors' wives say that they have no
close friends.

77% of the pastors we surveyed felt they did not
have a good marriage.

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about me

I'm Tom Ponchak. I received a degree in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. After graduation I worked as a parish youth minister in Maryland and a high school religion teacher in Michigan.
In 1997, my wife and I left the Catholic Church and joined the Association of Vineyard Churches, a non-denominational, evangelical faith community. I was the founding pastor of Matthew's House Vineyard in central Florida.
After ten years away from Catholicism, and longing for the Eucharist, I returned to the Church in 2006. I am currently the Director of Adult Faith Formation at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish in Indiana. I am also a member of the Domestic expression of the Brothers and Sisters of Charity.